Monday, 3 February 2014

THE RETURN!

So - I have been gone for over a year. The last marathon I did was my third Portland, Oregon in October 2012...number 33 overall. That came a few months after Rock and Roll New Orleans....which came a few months after I wrapped up the 12-in-12 in Santa Barbara. I was pretty much burnt out after SB...but did the others to see if I could rekindle the spirit. It wasn't happening...then.
Then was then...this is now.
Since that time I'v slowly, but oh so surely, gained a little girth. 20 pounds of it, apparently mostly around the middle. A few weeks ago I officially weighed 200 pounds, for the first time in my 61+ years on the planet. That was not a happy day. It's time to drop those bad boys.
Signed up for Toronto Waterfront Marathon on October 19th, 2014 this morning. I will admit my index finger seemed a bit reticent to tap the keyboard, a move that would send my $90 to the folks up in Rob Ford-Land, but my other hand reached across and added just enough push to do the deed.
Suddenly I had an itch to go get started. Pulled out the recently-rarely-used running kit, strapped on the Garmin and the iPod...and headed out for Point Pinole Regional Park, on this fairly chilly morn, one of my favourite places to run, because few people even know it exists.

I was understandably slow. Whatever. I'm pretty much starting from scratch...again...and I recall how tough it was all those years ago training for my first mary, in Vancouver, BC. The training for that one was just about four months and under the guidance of the AIDS Marathon Training Program folks.
Upon reading that I'd committed to another marathon, a dear friend in Athens (where this goofy endeavor was born!) sent me the link to the perfect song for the new adventure....
Thanks, Jo! See you all out there on the road...again!
Gotta run!